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Not long ago The Editors and Staff of Mr. Blog’s Tepid Ride (pretty much just me) posted on The Official Mr. Blog’s Tepid Facebook Pagea self-serving and egotistical chart of this blog’s phenomenal growth over the past two years. (See? I’m being self-serving again. I can’t stop!) Anyway, at one end of the chart was this teeny tiny little blip that represented all the views that hit this blog on November 2009, the first month of Mr. Blog on WordPress. The other end of the chart was November 2011. That bar (for it was a bar chart. Sorry pie chart fans.) was about a bazillion times bigger than the first bar. So if you do the math, this blog has about a bazillion times more hits per month now than it had two years ago.

Or something like that. I do my math with strictly irrational numbers.

Below the chart I posted this message: “I worked damn hard for that growth. Now if only I had worked that hard for money.”

But getting back to whatever point I may have had (and in fact, I have two of them) this brings up some questions. A (or 1 if you prefer) – Why do I do it? And 2 (B if you prefer) – Why don’t I make any money off of this thing? (It also brings up related questions C- Why don’t I get a life? And D- Shut up.)

Since the answers to both questions are related it won’t matter to anyone but the compulsively anal if I answer B first. (Heh heh, I said “anal.”)

B- (Or 2 if you prefer. Sigh, I am going to milk this. Be prepared.) Why don’t I make any money off this thing?

(Before you continue, ask yourself this question: Would you pay for this stuff?)

But that’s opening up a big can of worms. Because what happens if I get no donations? Zero. Not a single cent. That would be a CRUSHING DEATH BLOW to my ego. Why go on? Why write anymore? Why continue to do whatever it is I continue to do if no one likes it enough to give me a couple of bucks?

And if no one was willing to pay for the blog (which I admit is free, so why pay anyway?), who would pay for a hardcover copy of Mr. Blog’s Tepid Book, which would just be best-of (ha!) compilation of my favorite blogs, which I already admitted are free? Oh sure, maybe I could get Mike Mongeto illustrate it, but seriously, you’ve already read and not paid for the blogs, it would be a HUGE KILLING STROKE to my already fragile sense of self-worth if you failed to pay me a second time.

But there are two other options.

Let’s say that I put up the paypal link and asked for donations and at the end of the month I got about $3.17. That would be not only crushing but a cruel insult as well. Seriously, $3.17? What kind of an amount is that? Would you tip a waiter $3.17? I like to think I am a bit more entertaining than a waiter, unless of course it is one of those fancy singing waiters. I can’t compete with them. But on the other hand I don’t spit in your food.

And now let’s say I got a lot of money. Could I handle the responsibility? People are paying me! I HAVE to blog! And I have to be interesting and funny! OK, I can pull off interesting about half the time, and funny is hit or miss, but now the pressure is on. I can’t handle the pressure! I’ll crack! I’ll be like Henry Hill in Goodfellas, I might crack under questioning.

Seriously, it is better that I don’t ask for money from you.

So getting back to question A and/or 1, however you prefer to roll, why do I do this?

I dunno. It’s something to do, I guess.

I think my hopes for this blog can be summed up in a short scenario.

Picture this. The year is 2035. It is a taping of a late night talk show hosted by the kid in the Jimmy Fallon Capital One commercial, all grown up. The first guest is a hot comedian, Carrot Top 4.0. Unlike the first Carrot Top, this one is funny.

Baby, all grown up: 4.0, I have to ask, who were your comedic influences growing up?Carrot Top 4.0: Well, my grandfather, Carrot Top 2.0, of course, and my mother, Chelsea Clinton.Baby, all grown up: I loved it when Carrot Top 2.0 dyed his genitals blue.Carrot Top 4.0: It was a great bit.Baby, all grown up: But what about other comedians? I know you are a fan of classic TV.Carrot Top 4.0: I never laughed harder than I do at old Chris Matthews MSNBC reruns. Baby, all grown up: Yeah, it’s a shame he died the way he did. That diaper did nothing to help his image. Who else?Carrot Top 4.0: Remember the internet?Baby, all grown up: Vaguely. That was before the Taliban took over the FCC, right?Carrot Top 4.0: Yeah. Back then when I was growing up I’d read this blog, Mr. Blog’s Tepid Ride.Baby, all grown up: Wait, a “blog”? You read a “blog”? One of those sex things?Carrot Top 4.0: No, this was one of the non-sex blogs. It was run by some guy who had too much time on his hands and made fun of the news and spent too much time writing about American Chopper. Later on he got really obsessed about 2012 prophecies and his blog just became unreadable. Of course that was in 2023 so I have no idea what was going on there.Baby, all grown up: Hmm, I wonder if we can track him down. Might be an interesting interview.Carrot Top 4.0: I think he died and his cats ate him.

Eventually a reporter for TMZ tracked me down and luckily for me, I was not dead and made a funny 30 second clip on the show.

And that is my hope for this blog. That someday somebody funny may say they liked my blog.